February 3, 2015

Bringing baby to work

I've always known I wanted a big family, and I've always known I didn't want someone else to take care of my baby while I went back to work. This is the reason why a while back, before getting married, I quit my job and set up my own company, Frill Me, which I could run from home. I had it all planned: I would work for my online shop from home while taking care of my children, and the shop would eventually be big enough for my hubby to be able to quit his job as well and stay home with us {or in a small office of our own!}. But then during our wedding, my dad made an amazing speech, in which he asked me to come back home. Five and a half years away from home is a long time, he said. And he asked us both to move back and join the family business in the shoe industry.

We gave it some thought and in November we made up our mind: we were moving to Barcelona. My dad was offering us all we ever wanted: working together for ourselves, with the possibility of bringing our children to the office. No wonder we said yes. I think my idea with Frill Me was a very good one too, but I don't know how long it would have taken for the website to get big enough for the hubby to join the business, so my dad's offer was a godsend.

Liam is 5 months old now, and I started going back to the office part time when he was almost 2 months old. Then when he was 3 months old I finally joined full time, with Liam always next to me. I can't imagine it being any other way. If Liam wasn't able to go to work with me, I would still be on leave. There's seriously no way I'd leave my baby with a babysitter during his first year of life. I don't understand why bringing baby to work seems like such a difficult policy to implement for most companies, specially for those who work in an office. To me it makes perfect sense to bring the baby to work, it allows me to focus on my job knowing my baby is safe right next to me, and it makes the baby feel secure and relaxed knowing I'm right next to him, too. Not only does it make moms happier, it also helps the company's accounts, by avoiding the cost of replacing the employee and being able to retain good employees. I'm not the only one saying this, Forbes says Bringing Babies to Work Is Good Business.

In today's society, women often find themselves pushing maternity to their late 30s at least, confronted with the reality of having to choose between a career and a family. I think women can have it all. I believe companies should start considering implementing the bringing-baby-to-work policy for the baby's first year of life. When kids turn one year old, they are perfectly able to spend the day in day care, they actually need that extra stimulation and they have fun! But that's not the case for babies under one year old.

We just decided on Liam's day care starting September and couldn't be more happy about it. We visited the center, and kids have such a great time interacting with the teachers and with each other in all sorts of fun activities. I felt a bit sad for those under a year old, though. They can't really play yet, and I feel like they should be with their mamas. Hopefully companies will start changing their minds about this, although unfortunately I don't think it will be happening any time soon. If you have kids, what did you do with them during their first year of life? I'd love to know.

Thank God for Grandma in my case! My husband has a great work schedule, so he is the one staying home with them, and whenever he also works, grandma comes to the rescue! However, due to my job, it wouldn't be possible to bring the kids at work. I work with children, and my own couldn't be in class with me. Plus, it is somewhat different to manage almost 3 children! ;) Anyway, I wish it'd be possible!Love,Núria SolàPs. Liam looks adorable!! And soooo alert!!

Xenia, it's easy to say when you work with your family or have a private office, but when you work for someone and/or you share office with others you need to think about them too. I know every mom wished to be with their child 24/7, but coworkers might not want to be distracted by a child in the workplace. You have one, you know kids can randomly start crying, laughing really loud, they need attention and focus - I don't think any boss who's not related to mother would like to see her entertaining the child instead of working. I really like you but sometimes I have a feeling that because of your life situation (wealthy family with their own business) you're living in a different world than most of your readers. The best solution I've seen so far were daycares in the company so on a break mother would go feed the child or play with it, but in the normal situation 90% of the people would not like someone to bring their child to office. Consider yourself extremely lucky :) best wishes for you and your family

Excellent post Olivia. I being feeling the same way lately. Like you said, I had to delay having children until 31. Now, my daughter will be 2 years old and my career is basically on hold. I work part time with a OK job, not related to what I should be doing. However, for me is priceless to spend time with Sophia (my daughter) and is the most important thing to me for now, until she and her (hopefully) future sibling goes to preschool, then I feel I can move on. By then probably I'll be 38?!! who knows .. Hopefully I can have a career by then... I don't know if you know the book, Lean In of Sheryl Sandberg, and her super famous speech at TED talks, if you don't I recommend you watch it, is really inspiring.